The Mysterious Disappearance of Uzumaki Naruto
by Syroc
Summary: The title is pretty self-explanatory. Naruto vanishes without a trace one day. Sakura asks Sasuke to look for him. What follows is something that nobody could expect.


**AN:** Hello there, thralls. Some things to get out of the way:

**1: Do not be fooled by the character slots. There will be no yaoi here. Go visit the thousand and one **_**other**_** fics for that.**

**2: Happy endings are not welcome here. You want to smile, you take that shit somewhere else. **(Good gods below, I have _missed_ being misanthropic!)

**3: I know the title is silly. I like dissonance.**

**4: If you think you spot something that doesn't quite fit right, don't hurt your pretty little head trying to think about it. Just keep reading. It'll make sense eventually. **(Alternatively, if it _still_ doesn't make sense even when you're done, please pimp-slap me with whatever detail you noticed. )

**5: I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Kishimoto and his publishers or whatever. I have received no payment for this, no matter how much I wish otherwise. **But my, how I wish I had. That woulda been _awesome_.

**6: I used the original Japanese names for the various ninja techniques (Henge/Transformation, Kawarimi/Displacement and the Hosenka/Phoenix Sage Fire) so that they would stand out more. In flagrant opposition to this, the other two techniques that appear here are **_**not**_** translated, as I'm pretty sure I would mangle the shit out of that.** If _you_ happen to know how they would translate, then by all means tell me so I can replace them out and then credit you with your contribution.

* * *

**The Mysterious Disappearance of Uzumaki Naruto **

"It is better to be envied than pitied." – Herodotus, '_The Histories'  
_

Uchiha Sasuke stared at the mask for a long time before he decided to buy it, strangely fascinated by it in a way he could not quite understand. From its vibrant red-orange paint to its foxy ears and down to its steel-wire whiskers, the mask was perfect. And it fascinated him.

He wasn't even wholly conscious of what he was doing as he fished out money from his wallet and purchased the thing; he was simply _that_ transfixed was he by it. It was only when he held it in his hands and knew that it was his that the strange fascination seemed to loosen its hold on him, and he felt himself return to his normally stoic exterior. He tied the straps of the mask to his kunai pouch, and then moved quickly so as not to be late for his... training session with Sakura.

He'd hated himself all day yesterday for choking up when asking the girl for a date. For some reason all of the confidence and cool, calming arrogance had fled him in that moment, and instead of the word 'date' he'd said 'training session'. It had truly been one of the more pathetic moments in his life.

But despite his sudden nervousness (or, indeed, quite possibly _because_ of it) his pink-haired teammate had agreed. They were to meet at Team Seven's training ground where they would... Do something. Presumably she would teach him chakra control exercises, and he would help her expand her chakra reserves. And they would talk. Which was the important part.

It had been months since his thwarted attempt to leave the village, and in that time it had taken the help of his team and... Friends, to realize how much of a fool he'd been. It had come as a bit of a shock, really, to realize that the team he had resented for so long, the two he had considered weak and foolish had somehow come to fill the void that had been left in him since... That day. He could only wonder at what might have happened had Naruto not...

Thinking of the blonde left him with a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach. It was _his_ fault that it had happened.

It was his fault that Uzumaki Naruto had left.

Nobody quite knew what had happened to him: He'd just vanished one day, as if he'd dropped off the face of the earth. And nobody seemed to have noticed or cared too much.

All it had taken was one sudden outburst on the street, and the boy's world had come crashing down. Even after almost single-handedly defeating Gaara, as well as liberating Sasuke from the clutches of his temporary insanity, even after the hundred things he had done to help his friends and the village at large, someone had still hated him.

"_Nobody's fooled by your act, demon-brat! We know what you are, no matter how hard you try and trick us!"_

Sasuke had been taken aback by the amount of venom that had laced the old woman's words, but what had shocked him the most was the way others had _nodded_ along to them. And from that moment onwards it was as if an unbridgeable chasm had cracked around their normally happy teammate. Naruto's smile had faltered, and then broken.

And then he'd vanished without a trace.

It was one of those things about the boy that nobody had really considered until the day nobody could find him: Naruto, as a child, had managed to evade the majority of the village's ninja population every time he had pulled off some elaborate and cunning prank. He'd even managed to deface the Hokage monument without anyone having noticed it being done. Nobody had guessed that he might be able to use those skills to simply disappear from everyone's lives.

But it was the way everyday life in the village seemed to continue without him that _really_ unnerved him. It was as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. People seemed _confused_ when he asked about where Naruto had gone, in fact.

Sasuke arrived at training ground seven with a few moments to spare, and was surprised to realize that Sakura was there before him, beaming him a small smile as she picked herself up from where she sat.

They agreed that since they both had duties that day they would meet up when they were both done, which had ended up being sometime in the evening. The sun was just beginning to dip below the thick canopy of trees when Sasuke arrived, ad it would not be long before night set in. Unless they felt like beig tired the next morning, today's training session would not be a long one.

"Ah, I've been waiting for you!" She says with a smile, and seeing it made him feel good. He found himself looking forward to our time together more and more, just for these moments.

"I didn't keep you waiting long, did I?" He asked, though not too concerned. He was certain he was on time, and if that was the case then _she_ was early. It was unreasonable to assume that he could pre-empt that.

He joined her beside her tree, and soon the two were talking.

"No, I only got here a few minutes ago." She reassured him, blushing slightly. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about, actually."

"Oh? What was it?"

She seemed to hesitate for a moment, uncertainty worrying at her smile, before she steeled her resolve and pressed on. "Have you seen Naruto?"

Sasuke flinched at the question, remembering once again that he'd had a fault in the boy's disappearance. The guilt he felt nagged at him, though he tried not to let it show.

"No, I haven't seen that idiot." He said carefully, though the way he said the blonde's insulting nickname was a great deal less harsh than it once had been. It was hard for him to work up the same vitriolic disdain for someone who had stopped him from ruining his own life. Of course, he'd had to pummel him half to death in order to _do_ it, but such details became trivial in retrospect.

The pink-haired girl wilted at the way he said that, turning away from him.

"I didn't think you would." She admitted quietly. "Nobody has."

Sasuke remained silent at this. He didn't think he should respond, though it was fairly obvious that the girl wanted him to. He was certain that his thoughts on the matter were fairly obvious, though. He too had felt the melancholy that had set in after the Blonde had vanished. The days seemed a little bit darker without that bright smile and happy laugh around them.

"I just..." Sakura began but faltered, pausing for a moment in her hesitancy before looking up hopefully at him. "I just want to see him again. I want the three of us to be together, like it used to be."

The boy took this in with a nod and a sigh, shaking his head slowly.

That idiot. Didn't he _know_ the pain he was putting Sakura through? Hadn't she already had to ask one teammate to bring back the other? Didn't Naruto know that he was a member of Team 7? Sasuke was all too aware of what his betrayal had done to those who knew him. It would take years for things to return to the way they had been. And without Naruto, that would never happen at _all_.

With a sigh Sasuke nodded, putting aside the internal struggle that raged inside him. He knew that Sakura cared for Naruto, but he couldn't be sure if she didn't feel anything more than that for her. It seemed likely: after all, he had been a much better friend and companion to her than he ever had. But could he really deny her? Could he abandon Naruto? He was a part of Sasuke's life too, after all.

With a sigh he decided that no, he couldn't. Even if it meant losing Sakura to Naruto, he would do what she asked of him.

"I'll find him, Sakura." He promised, letting no doubt in his goal show. "I'll bring him back for you."

"Thank you." She answered, and then kissed his cheek with such abruptness that he couldn't help but blush furiously. "Everything will be alright once he's back, you'll see."

Sasuke nodded, his breath caught in his throat as he was floored by what had just happened. Instead of commenting on it he arranged for them to meet up again in a few days (he most certainly _didn't_ stutter when he did!) and then left the training ground, thoroughly embarrassed but determined not to let the girl down.

* * *

_I tear through the night like any number of bats unleashed from the bowels of hell, flying across rooftops unheeded by the villagers below. Wrapped deep inside the comforting layers of my technique, I am protected by their ignorance: they see only what I want them to see. Those that __do__ mark my passing see only my mask and think it my face._

_They do not imagine the lie I will turn into reality. They do not see what they should have so many years ago._

_My face has been a mask for so long that I have long ago forgotten what lay beneath it. _

_I made an error as a child: a smile offers poor protection from the hateful majority. But what of a different face? How can they hate what they cannot see?_

_The moon would rise and fall through the starry night before I left to rest._

_I cradle my new toy, a souvenir of my new life to be: a magnificently made fox mask. Well, I __say__ magnificent, but the thing was a bit mediocre. I simply liked it, and had decided to take it with me. I would have to keep it close. _

_Tomorrow was a brand new day, and I would have to rise and greet it eventually. And when I did, I would be someone else.  
_

* * *

Sasuke rose from his bed with a loud yawn, his limbs aching from the strenuous exertion of training yesterday. It took him a moment to remember his promise from the day before, and with it he remembered his plans for the day. He would be asking around the village first, just to confirm what he already suspected. If it was true that nobody had seen him, then he would have to investigate the boy's apartment for any clues of his whereabouts. If there still weren't any hint of what Naruto was up to, then Sasuke would have to report it to Hokage.

But he doubted that would be necessary. After all, she likely already knew that Naruto as absent. A team, one like that which had saved him from his ill-thought out defection to Sound, would have been assembled to bring him back.

But it seemed odd that the remaining members of Team 7 wouldn't be informed of their missing teammate's status. Surely someone would at least tell _them_, if not the village's shinobi, what it was Naruto was up to? At the very least to stop them worrying.

But that didn't seem to be the case. Yes, for now Sasuke would have to ask around. Someone had to know _something_ worth knowing about the absent blonde.

Uchiha Sasuke was out the door of his apartment within the hour, plans for the day already formulating themselves inside his mind.

He would ask the rookie nine first. They were all of the same generation, after all, and surely Naruto had to have _some_ friends among them?

He considered who would know the boy best, and found that he couldn't remember anyone who had stood out as the boy's friend. All of his memories of the boy had him standing alone, ignored or teased by his peers.

With a small frown, he decided to begin his search with the Inuzuka. Kiba might not have been Naruto's friend, but they were similar enough in spirit that perhaps the boy might have some kind of insight as to where he should keep looking. And with the boy's enhanced sense of smell there was a chance that he'd come across his scent recently.

And with that in mind, Uchiha Sasuke found himself waiting patiently in the reception hall of the Inuzuka Compound, trying very hard to ignore the smell of dog and not succeeding. It was _everywhere_, and Sasuke was certain that if he had to stay there much longer he would have to take a bath. A long one.

As if sensing his growing unrest the boy he was waiting for emerged from inside the compound with his puppy in tow.

He looked at Sasuke in slight confusion, wrinkling his nose as he did so.

"You?" He asked, as if uncertain. "What are you doing here?"

The Uchiha, eager to be elsewhere, decided to ignore Kiba's strange behaviour. He was eager to be back on the streets and away from the stink of dog.

"I was wondering if you knew where Naruto was, actually." He explained, nodding at him. "I thought you might know, considering how similar the two of you are."

"Huh?" Kiba asked, still studying the Uchiha. "Don't _you_ know where he is?"

"Why do you ask?" Sasuke asked, genuinely surprised.

"You kind of smell like-" He stared hard at him, sniffed again, then scrunched his face in consternation. "Huh, I guess I was wrong."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow at this, folding his arms across his chest.

"You can smell Naruto on me?" He asked, and he was split on whether this was a good or a bad thing. On the one hand, it meant that Naruto was likely still in the village. On the other hand, it also meant he was crossing deep into creepy territory. "Can you tell when?"

The boy shook his head, as if the idea that he couldn't was an affront to his skills as a ninja and an Inuzuka.

"Not really. Maybe a day or less. Sorry I can't do better than that."

"Don't worry about it." Sasuke said a small note of excitement in his voice. Naruto _was_ still in the village, and he was _close_. "Have you smelt him anywhere else? Would you know where he might be?"

Kiba gave him a funny look, but shrugged. "You'd know better than me. Why're you looking for him anyways?"

"Sakura wants me to find him and bring him back." He answered simply, as if that explained everything. Sasuke would be the first to admit that anyone who had known him before the retrieval mission would be hard pressed to believe that he'd had such a dramatic change of heart.

"Huh." Kiba studied him for what felt like a long time, but then shrugged as if he couldn't be bothered any more with the matter. "Well, I'm sorry I can't help any more than that. Naruto's a good guy, y'know?"

Sasuke nodded slowly, which seemed to bring a grin to Kiba's face.

"He is." The Uchiha agreed, then turned to leave. "Well, I'll keep looking for him then. Somebody has to know _something_, eh?"

"Heh, hell yeah!" Kiba shouted. "Get Sakura to punch him when you find 'im, yeah? She's got some freakish strength on 'er, especially since she started her apprenticeship."

And with that Uchiha Sasuke left the Inuzukas to meet with the rest of the rookie nine, certain that his quick success was a good omen for the search.

A few hours later Sasuke was disabused of this notion, as to a one each of his peers reported that they hadn't seen him since he'd vanished. It didn't seem to matter who he asked: nobody had even the slightest inkling of where Naruto was. Some hadn't even noticed that he had been gone.

Everyone seemed confused as to why _he_ of all people would be looking for the blonde, though. Sasuke didn't know what to make of that. He knew that his attempted defection was heavy on everyone's mind, but surely they could understand his desire to find out what had become of his teammate, couldn't they?

There was one thing to be salvaged from Sasuke's questioning.

Hyuuga Hinata, who also seemed to be concerned with Naruto's whereabouts, had reported that prior to his disappearance Naruto had taken to using the Henge technique quite often to avoid the slander of the villagers.

Sasuke could understand and sympathize with that. If the outburst he'd witnessed was any indication of what the boy had to deal with every day, then it was a small wonder he hadn't taken to changing his appearance before that.

But it _would_ make finding the boy harder than he'd have liked.

He knew from working with Naruto before that his Henges were perfect, almost impossible to discern from the things they mimicked. His mastery of the technique even allowed him to transform into weapons. And the boy was a skilled enough ninja to be able to avoid most suspicion once he was transformed, which meant that it would be a matter of luck rather than skill for Sasuke to find him.

Still, at least he knew _something_. There was still a possibility that Naruto was still in the village with a different face.

He sighed as he faced the ultimate reality of the matter: Naruto really was the number one most surprising ninja. Who would have thought that finding someone who had once defaced an entire monument would be hard to catch? (Anyone who stopped to think about it, now that he was forced to just that. How _had_ he done it?) How could someone who went around shouting and wearing bright neon orange manage to work up the kind of stealth skills necessary to vanish so completely. (Again, now that he was forced to think on it, the answer seemed obvious: if Naruto could keep from being found even with those disadvantages, how much better would he be without them? Sasuke was reminded uncomfortably of the weights Lee wore, and the blinding speed he'd displayed once they'd been removed.)

There was nothing else for it but to investigate Naruto's apartment, and hope that it at least had something worth investigating.

The Uchiha had to think for a few moments to remember where Naruto lived. It had been a while since he'd last been there, after all. He was relatively certain that the boy lived in one of the less well off neighborhoods, in a building that Sasuke had been sure was abandoned the first time he'd seen it.

Finding the apartment complex was easier than he'd suspected: it had been exactly where he'd thought it would be. Looking up he spotted the blonde's apartment and noticed that the light was on. With wide eyes he made good time through the complex until he was standing in front of the Naruto's door and knocked on loudly. When it was obvious that nobody was about to open the door, Sasuke began to consider his options.

The apartment's windows would probably be the best place to break into the apartment through. They had only a simple latch that could easily be forced open, and if that wasn't possible then it was always possible to simply break the glad. It wouldn't be nice, and if Naruto really was in there he would be alarmed to his presence. It would also make getting through unscathed a little tricky, but it was possible.

On the other hand, there was the door. The circumstances there were pretty much the same, but the difficulties were more difficult to circumvent. Naruto had an impressive lock on his door, though why he did was a bit of a mystery. There was hardly much behind it that was worth stealing.

Sasuke looked down at the doormat he was standing on, and with a small frown he stepped off and kicked it aside, revealing a key underneath it.

Huh. That was surprisingly easy. How stupid did someone have to be think _that_ was a good place to hide a key? It was so _obvious._ Though Sasuke supposed that it was possible that most people would consider it entirely _too_ obvious, and discard that possibility as a consequence. There was a strange, twisty kind of logic to that, he supposed. But he doubted the blonde idiot had had the foresight for such a plan.

He slid the key inside the lock and twisted, grinning with quiet satisfaction as the door opened with a quiet '_click'_, I opened the door.

He wasn't very surprised to find that his vanished teammate's apartment was every bit as messy as he'd suspected it might be. The floor was strewn with clothes that had been haphazardly discarded by their owner, who no doubt had done so with complete disregard for the order of his home. There was a threadbare rub in the middle of the room that looked like had seen better days, and a table on top of it that bore the countless scars of a messy eater. The walls were adorned with several posters, most of which depicted scenes from Naruto's favourite actress in some of her more famous films.

But what caught Sasuke's eyes was the semicircle of scrolls, books and documents that were arranged in what looked like a delicate array in one of the few open spaces of the apartment.

A closer inspection revealed they had been meticulously arranged, as many of the documents had small notes around them that referred to others, which would lead the reader on a trail across the many sources of information. Genjutusu, medical ninjutsu, what looked like an in-depth study of human anatomy and a coded transcription that seemed to be at the centre of the arrangement and bore the most amount of notes. Sasuke studied that one particular for a time, but he couldn't make sense of it: however Naruto had managed to read it, he had been smart enough not to leave the means for others to do the same in his notes. To him the document looked like a treatise on flower arrangement and cultivation, but there was obviously more to it if Naruto was able to draw information like '_constant chakra flow through the nervous system tenketsu, technique retains strength'_ from the phrase '_one must always remember to attend diligently to the white lotus, as otherwise its leafs will surely whither'_.

A few hours ago Sasuke would have been prepared to wager that Naruto wouldn't have been able to _read_ many of those documents, let alone make sense of them.

Above that tangled mess of information lay what Sasuke instinctively knew to be the culmination of Naruto's research. It certainly helped that he recognized the boy's abominable penmanship. But what threw him off balance were the detailed diagrams that he'd drawn up, depicting what looked like the gradual change of someone's body. It seemed that whatever Naruto was researching actually enforced a permanent physical change, not a temporary one like the Henge technique created. Bones would be compressed or extended as the form merited, muscles would grow or deteriorate as well, skin, hair and eyes would alter pigmentation... and it would be _agonizing_. It would have to be, to enforce such changes on a conscious being.

Sasuke had a flash of what someone would experience to perform the technique that Naruto had developed: limbs and body stretching with every passing moment, ripping and regrowing nerves in an instant, muscles burning like fire as they tore themselves to pieces either to grow anew or simply atrophy, all while his skin tingled with pins and needles as his skin changed colour. A scream that comes out warped and distorted and suddenly turns bloody as vocal cords alter themselves to make a new voice...

He shook his head to free himself from the visage.

How could have Naruto have thought this was a good idea? It was monstrous! It was _insane_!

But even that gruesome display didn't seem to be the whole extent of whatever it was Naruto had created here. It, like the treatise on flowers, was coded in a way that made it likely for only Naruto to understand: an in-depth review of ramen. Sasuke found it easy to believe that maybe Naruto had simply decided to switch up his research into altering the human body with his true passion, but doubted that he would put it here with his research unless it held some kind of significance. He would have to check it out later, when he was done searching the apartment.

Sasuke rose from his scrutiny of Naruto's research, and moved to inspect another thing that had caught his eye in his early survey of the room.

Not far away from that perplexing display, tacked to a wall, was a relatively nondescript piece of paper. It seemed out of place, which was what brought Sasuke's attention to it in the first place. He carefully removed the tack without tearing the paper, unwilling to either damage whatever it was Naruto felt need to be displayed prominently or to leave any evidence of his presence.

Sasuke recognized the signature of the Hokage in one corner, though it seemed a bit rushed as there were a few rogue droplets of ink around it. Which he supposed made sense: after all, the woman absolutely _hated_ paperwork of any kind.

It looked to be one of the special dispensation forms that she would give out to shinobi who wanted time off for a project of their own or self-improvement, or even just vacation. A quick skim through the document's contents revealed that it was just that, though the reason specified caught his eyes.

._.. Genin Uzumaki Naruto has been temporarily relieved from active duty in order to further his studies in the transformation techniques. It is the opinion of the Hokage that his Shapeshifter technique is to be considered kinjutsu, but that the theory behind it merits further study. Until such a time as the Godaime revokes this dispensation or his research reaches its conclusion, genin Naruto is to..._

It continued on for half a page to further detail the parameters of his dispensation, what resources were available to him, and

One phrase in particular had caught Sasuke's attention, though. _–his Shapeshifter technique is to be considered kinjutsu- _Naruto had created a kinjutsu? How had he managed that? More importantly, _when_ had he managed it? It had only been a few weeks since his attempted defection, and a lot of that time had been spent doing missions before Naruto had vanished. Or, as seemed to be the case, been taken off active duty so he could perfect whatever technique it was he had created.

And the Shapeshifter technique... that had to be what Naruto had been developing here, obviously. But how could he possibly build upon _that_? Where else was there to go from the complete physical copying of someone?

Without quite knowing why he flipped the document over, not expecting to see anything but being greatly surprised when he did.

_Demonic Art: Face Stealing Transformation_

Sasuke could only stare at that, his mind unpleasantly blank as he tried to consider just what it meant. It certainly didn't _sound_ pleasant. And if the Shapeshifter technique was anything to go by, this would have to be even worse. And 'Demonic Art' certainly did the name no favours, either. Why would Naruto want to use the fox for _anything_?

He quickly put the paper back where he had found it, feeling a bit more shaken up than he would have liked to admit.

Deciding that he'd rather not stay in the presence of the worrying research, Sasuke decided to check Naruto's bedroom for evidence that it had been slept in lately.

He immediately regretted that decision the second he opened the door.

It was easy to see why Naruto would discard his clothing in the living room of his apartment if this was what had happened to his bedroom.

Blood stained the floor in streaks and droplets, while in places the walls looked like bloodied hands had tried to steady themselves. Sasuke could imagine Naruto testing out his technique on himself, and finding that his skin was burned off by his own chakra.

How many times had Naruto failed to create his techniques? How many times had he horribly maimed and disfigured himself? A series of tallies, made in blood, told a grisly tale of just what Naruto would get up to in here. Sasuke could only shudder at thought, able to picture the boy writhing on the ground and _screaming_ at the ruinous damage he'd done to himself in his strives for perfection.

But what kept him from bolting out of the room in horror at the imagined suffering that had taken place there was a mask, laid carefully atop a stained bed. It was a well-made mask, from its orange paint to its steel-wire whiskers, its shape and its texture.

It was a fox.

It was, in fact, the very same fox mask Sasuke had bought the day before he'd met up with Sakura. The Uchiha thought back to the morning and tried desperately to remember if he'd seen it on his way out, but found that he couldn't.

Why would Naruto want to steal something of his? The thought echoed through his mind as he tied the mask to his waist like he had the day before, this time intent on never letting it leave his grasp again. But why would _Naruto_ want it?

The question made him remember his earlier encounter with Kiba. He'd said that Naruto had been around him sometime within a day. Was the reason he had done so just get his hands on a cheap mask he'd bought from a street vendor? No, that made no sense. There had to be something else...

Almost unwillingly he thought back to the time just after they'd all been assigned to Team 7. Naruto had ambushed him and taken on his appearance in order to go on a date with Sakura while he lay bound and helpless until he'd managed to free himself due to the blonde's shoddy knots.

He'd been using Henge around the village to keep anonymous. He was researching a technique that would allow him to take on a new appearance almost permanently. And then he had managed to create an even more powerful technique after that... a technique he called the Face Stealing Transformation.

Uchiha Sasuke suddenly found it very easy to imagine why Naruto would have been around him.

As if the fates had been conspiring for him to reach that conclusion at that exact moment the doorknob for the main entrance to Naruto's apartment was twisted as someone tried to enter. Sasuke whirled around, a kunai already in his hand but even with his new suspicion he couldn't stop from staring at a perfect copy of himself.

And it _was_ perfect, in every nuance. Almost as one they dropped into the same battle-stance, though only Sasuke was armed.

"What the hell do you think you're _doing_, Naruto?" He demanded angrily, each word dripping with venom.

"What?" The other 'Sasuke' said in confusion. Sasuke had to admit that the transformation was impressive, as even his _voice_ was perfect. How had such an idiot managed to create a technique that was so thorough? "What am _I_ doing? What are _you_ doing?"

"I've been _trying_ to find _you_, dead-last!" Sasuke shouted. "I wasn't expecting to find _this_, though!" He waved at the gruesome scene behind him, still more than a little unnerved by it

The Naruto in disguise looked over Sasuke's shoulder and narrowed his eyes at what he saw, no doubt trying to think of a way to try and think of way to explain it away.

"Maybe we should calm down and talk about this-" He began, but Sasuke quickly cut him off.

"No!" Sasuke roared furiously. "So long as you keep up that disguise, we won't be talking!"

"Disguise?" Naruto said, perplexed. "What disguise?"

Without any further warning Sasuke bolted at the impersonator, leaping over the dining table gracefully and swinging a fist at his face. At the last moment Naruto twisted away, his eyes wide in surprise at the speed of the attack. Sasuke followed through on his missed blow by planting his feet firmly and ramming a shoulder into Naruto's chest, sending the disguised blonde staggering backwards into the doorframe as he tried to regain his breath.

Sasuke didn't want to hurt the other boy too badly, but he _had_ to put a stop to this. What Naruto had planned to do was insane. What would have happened when he realized that the original was still alive? Or if someone saw through his technique? If was willing to inflict such suffering on himself, what would he do to others who stood in the way of his plan.

Naruto steadied himself with one hand against the doorframe, his breath coming out clipped and ragged as he struggled to recover from the blow Sasuke had dealt him. His hand reached for the kunai pouch at his thigh, but before he could pull anything out Sasuke was on him again.

He attacked with a flying knee, knowing that Naruto would dodge away rather than block. As predicted Naruto threw himself into a sideways roll, leaving Sasuke to smash into the doorframe and other ruin it or his knee. But Sasuke brought both his knee further upwards and kicked off the wall, sending spinning backwards in a graceful somersault that ended in a crouch, bursting forward once more. Naruto deflected his first and second blow, but a feigned kick left his opponent open for a vicious haymaker to the boy's jaw that brought Naruto down hard, his heard no doubt ringing from the force of the blow.

Sasuke backed away a bit, allowing the other boy to recover and hopefully come back to his senses.

"You can't be me, Naruto!" Sasuke stated, trying to push the notion firmly into the realm of impossibility. "Do you see now how impossible this is?"

But Naruto pushed himself back up, spitting out blood as he did so. Sasuke found it strange to find his movements mimicked so effortlessly, but did not allow it to dissuade him from his task.

"You... _idiot!_" He hissed out, breathing hard. "Do you even know what you're _doing_?"

"I'm stopping you, Naruto! And then I'm bringing you back!" The Uchiha retorted, slipping once more into combat-readiness. If Naruto was recovered enough to spew insult, then it wouldn't be long before he was ready to start taking a beating again. "I'll get the Hokage to stop your research if I have to!"

"My research?" Naruto asked, his eyes darting across the room. Finally they landed on the array of documents and scrolls that outlined the basics of the Shapeshifter and whatever the Face Stealer was. His face went unreadable as he plotted out his next move, shooting quick glares at Sasuke.

"I read them." Sasuke stated, a deep frown forming on his face. "What you've created is _insane_, Naruto. You have to stop!"

"Stop?" The disguised blonde seemed to consider this possibility, his gaze never once leaving area where he had left his notes and sources. "Yes... I'll put a stop to this."

Naruto made a sudden leap towards the arrangement of papers, grabbing them all in one clean sweep of his hands before throwing himself through one of the windows of the apartment before Sasuke had a chance to stop him.

The Uchiha instead glared down at the rapidly retreating boy

The sun was already setting at this point, and Sasuke was still tired from yesterday and his sudden exertion. But he decided to take off after the boy in spite of his fatigue, as there was a chance that it would at least lead him to where Naruto was hiding. There was no way the boy would sleep in that room, not after all the times he had maimed himself there.

He leapt through the now broken window as well, taking care not to cut himself on one of the jagged edges of glass that were there.

The chase was a short one, as the moment Naruto passed through a crowd of villagers and ninja returning to their homes Sasuke lost him. The blonde, even in his altered form, was a master at disappearing from the eyes of shinobi.

Nevertheless, Sasuke spent a fruitless hour going over the place Naruto might have retreated before he decided to give in to his tired limbs and aching head. He would rest for a time, and then resume the chase later, when Naruto wasn't likely to be as alert. The chances were slim, he admitted, but he _had_ to put an end to this.

Naruto couldn't be allowed to complete his technique and become Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

_Again I am moving through the night, though this time I am hunted._

_I perceive their pursuit with the trained skill of a natural born prankster, the thousand signs alerting me long before my conscious mind would ever have been aware._

_But unlike the many times I had been chased before, this time I would not be content with mere escape. This person had sought me out deliberately. They obviously knew that something was wrong with me, which meant I would be forced to deal with them before they had a chance to report their suspicions to a superior. _

_I slowed to a stop, and waited. It would not be a long one, as a moment later the darkness fled as my rooftop was assaulted by a fireball. It misses me, of course. Even with those vaunted eyes, Uchiha Sasuke cannot see through darkness._

"_So you want to fight again, Bastard?" I ask with a grin, careful not to make myself heard to those below us._

"_You can't hide forever, Naruto!" The Uchiha claims, and there might be some truth to that. I would have to perfect my technique soon, or I would be discovered._

"_Don't call me that!" I hiss angrily at him, and twist away from his blow before retaliating with a jarring palm-strike to his chin with every ounce of speed I can muster. His sharingan eyes see the movement, but his body is helpless to stop the blow from connecting. _

_It sends him staggering backwards, trying to shake his head from the blow. I do not give him a chance to recover, grabbing one of his flailing hands and pull hard, sending him even more off-balance. I bring my knee up into his stomach in the same motion, and the Uchiha doubles over in pain as his breath leaves his body._

_The moment I see him helpless before me I bull into him, pushing him backwards further and further until he trips over the edge of the building._

_He would survive the fall, of course. Of that I have no illusions. But he __would__ take some time recover, and that was all I would need to make my escape into the night and vanish into tomorrow. _

_And in that tomorrow __I__ would be Uchiha Sasuke.  
_

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke woke with a groan, every muscle in his body screaming in protest. He'd obviously not rested long enough after his failed chase after Naruto, and now he was feeling the consequences of that.

He turned to glare balefully at the midday sun, scowling when he realized that he had slept in.

Naruto could be in a thousand different places by now, wearing _his_ face, doing any number of...

Sakura. He would _have_ to be with her!

Sasuke bolted from his bed, the pain emanating from his limbs forgotten in that moment of realization. He found a set of clothing for the day in a rush, already trying to think where Naruto would meet up with Sakura.

The team training ground, mostly likely. Before the fateful rescue mission the three of them had spent precious little time together outside of what was necessary to complete their mission. It was neutral grounds, a place they all felt equally at ease. It was also where Sasuke had scheduled their next training session.

Just as Sasuke was pulling his shirt over down there was a loud knock at the door which snapped the boy out of his panicked trance. He shot an accusing glare at the door, trying to remember if he was expecting someone today. Kakashi was out on a mission at the moment so it couldn't be him, and Sakura would be working at the hospital until later that evening. Beyond those two he couldn't think of anyone who might need to talk to him. Well, maybe the Hokage needed him for a mission. It wasn't likely, considering his probationary status as a ninja, but the possibility was there. Yes, that made sense. They _were_ hard-pressed for ninja, after all, and he had shown good behaviour so far.

That was something to look forward to, at least. Once he sorted out the mess with Naruto, they could all get back to being a team once again.

Giving himself a quick once-over to make sure he was presentable, he approached the door and opened it.

There was an ANBU on the other side, a smooth pig mask with a minimal markings to distinguish it from the others. Sasuke imagined it wasn't necessary: he doubted anyone was exactly eager to pick a _pig_ of all the possible choices. Felines and all manner of avian, yes. They were the obvious candidates, very appropriate for a ninja. Pigs? Not so much.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The ANBU intoned without inflection. "You will accompany me to the Hokage's office."

For a moment Sasuke could only stare, confused, before he forced himself to speak.

"I'm not Naruto!" He protested indignantly. "Can't you see that?"

The pig mask quirked slightly to the side, and for the first time Sasuke was feeling the full effects of being confronted by a faceless enemy: there was almost no way of telling what was going on behind that mask, no way of predicting how they might react.

But Sasuke had to admit to the brilliance of what Naruto had done. With his perfected technique it would be easy for him to convince others that he was the genuine article. After all, the changes he would have undergone would allow him to stand up to any scrutiny save by a close one from someone like Ibiki who made a career out of discovering the truth. If Naruto brought his research before the Hokage and claimed that _he_ was 'Naruto' in disguise then there would be little reason to doubt him.

"Appearances can be deceiving." The mask stated. "I have orders to bring you to the-"

"I am Uchiha Sasuke, _not_ Uzumaki Naruto!" Sasuke repeated, letting his anger at the confusion show through. "I will _not_ stand by and let that imposter get away with doing this to me!"

"Uzumaki-" The ninja began to reiterate, but Sasuke never gave him a chance to finish.

The ANBU had no time to react as Uchiha Sasuke flooded his eyes with chakra, and experienced a brief sensation of time moving impossibly slow as his brain began to read the movements of the world around him with incredible detail.

He used that brief moment to Kawarimi behind the ANBU, bursting into motion down the hallway that led outside. When he heard the ninja behind him spin around to catch him he reached into a pair of pouches at his side and threw a hail of shuriken with one hand and caltrops with the other. They would likely do no more than divert the ninja behind him for a few moments, but every second counted. Sure enough he heard a series of clinks as the ANBU deflected the throwing stars away.

Using that sound as a cue, Sasuke whirled around with a pair of small globes already in his hands. They contained a special kind of oil inside them that was uniquely suited for causing shinobi to slip even in spite of ground-gripping techniques. Taking in the trajectory of the ANBU's leap as he jumped over the caltrops, Sasuke threw both globes with enough force to shatter the fragile shell that kept the substance inside them.

Uchiha Sasuke didn't stick around to watch the ANBU land on the oil and then bellow in surprise then pain as he slipped backwards and landed flat on his back. There was a good chance that the ninja had landed hard on a few caltrops, but that would only delay his pursuit of Sasuke all the more. He had been careful to use small caltrops just for this reason: he didn't want to inflict _too_ much damage.

He rounded a corner and burst into the streets of Konoha, not stopping even for a moment in his mad dash through the village.

More shinobi would be after him the moment the pig ANBU reported that he had escaped. He would have to flee into the forest surrounding Konoha for now and use the thick vegetation to hide his presence. It would be an easy enough, as it wasn't as if he had never done it before. The real trick would be to remain patient while he waited for Naruto to show up.

Sneaking past the gates was easy enough for him, even with the heightened security in the wake of the sand/sound invasion. The walls surrounding the village were simply too difficult to guard at all times even when fully staffed: the invasion had depleted their ranks a bit more than people might like to admit. So there was nobody to stop him when he scaled the wall with his tree-walking exercise and then escaped into the thick canopy of the forest before anyone could stop him.

As predicted, it wasn't long before there were shinobi patrolling through the forest on the lookout for him, but he was far too well in his element to be found. He evaded his pursuers with ease, moving deeper into the forest with every passing moment while at the same time getting closer to training ground seven.

It took hours to make the slow progress there, but once he did he settled in for a longer wait. After all, Naruto would no doubt be thinking that it would be safe for him to make good on his plan to take his place for the meeting with Sakura.

The thought of the other boy with Sakura made Sasuke's blood boil, a hot fury building up inside him almost as if he was on fire. It made him want to seek out Naruto then and there, settling things once and for all. But that wouldn't help things. Quite the opposite in fact, most likely. If he was found by the senior shinobi it would only be a matter of time before he was captured, and from there it would be a long time before the truth of the matter was uncovered. If he hadn't been involved with the whole matter Sasuke would have been impressed with the way Naruto had so cleanly switched their roles around, making _him_ out to be the impostor. Truly, Naruto was a master prankster. If he had applied his talents more closely to his ninja career, there wouldn't have been a better saboteur in their generation.

Sasuke put his begrudging admiration aside as at last arrived on the outskirts of training ground seven.

The sun was hanging low over the canopy by then, painting the clouds a brilliant mixture of gold and pink. It wouldn't be too long before Sakura was done with her shift at the hospital, and Naruto would have to come here to meet her.

The Uchiha took a moment to debate whether it would be worth the effort to rig up some kind of ambush for the boy, but eventually decided against it. There was a chance that Sakura would arrive first, and he _really_ didn't want to have to explain why she had walked into a field of traps. She could be scary enough without provocation.

He didn't have to wait too long before Naruto arrived, (wearing a set of _his_ clothing, no less!) and he emerged from his hiding place to confront the blonde.

"I knew you'd come here, Naruto." Sasuke taunted, startling the other boy with his sudden appearance.

"Hn." Naruto grunted in perfect imitation, and in a blur of movement his hands both carried kunai. "I didn't think you'd still be free after what I got Tsunade to bring you in. You're obviously a better ninja than even I thought you were."

Sasuke bristled at his words, indignant at the dismissive way the other boy.

"What? You think you're so good just because you beat me at the valley?" Sasuke demanded angrily, pointing an accusing finger. "I beat you yesterday, remember?"

Naruto stared hard at him for a moment as if he couldn't quite comprehend the words that had just been said, before he gave a slow shrug.

"I see you're really set on this, then." He said in resignation, and dropped into a battle stance. He closed his eyes pointedly, allowing a small smile to form on his lips as he did. "I'll just have to show you how much better I am than you!"

Naruto's eyes snapped back open, and then it was Sasuke's turn to be shocked. Gone were 'Sasuke's' normal brown eyes, replaced instead by the blood-red of the Sharingan. Was Naruto's technique so powerful that it could replicate doujutsu? He tried to think back to yesterday, desperate to remember anything that might help him understand what was going on. Was the blonde simply using genjutsu to make it _look_ like he had attained the Sharingan, or were they the genuine article? It didn't seem possible, but until a few days ago Sasuke had believed that changing one's physical form permanently in a matter of seconds was also impossible.

"What have you _done_, Naruto?" Sasuke shouted, aghast. "Where the hell did you get those?"

"Doesn't matter." Naruto said dismissively, and the dots around his pupils began to spin. "I'll just take you down and bring you in myself."

Sasuke fed chakra to his eyes in concentration, and again felt the strange sensation that came with it. Naruto faltered when he saw this, no doubt worrying if his own paltry imitation could stand up to the genuine article. The Uchiha was confident that even if they _were_ real Sharingan it wouldn't matter: the other boy couldn't have more than a few days of experience with them. Whereas _he_ had had months to get acquainted to them and combat experience to boot.

"I'll have to beat the secret out of you, then." The raven haired boy ground out, and slipped into a battle stance of his own. "But first I'll show you the power of an Uchiha!"

Naruto snarled at that, throwing one his kunai with perfect aim at him and springing forward in a dash to close the ground between them. With his enhanced eyes Sasuke foresaw the blade's path and moved a just far enough to get out of its path before he too charged at his opponent.

Naruto attacked first, making a vicious slash at his enemy's eyes that Sasuke easily dodged under. But he hadn't expected the other boy to follow up with a vicious downwards elbow with his kunai-hand, and so barely had enough time to throw himself further down into a crouch to avoid the blow. The disguised blonde overbalanced when his attack failed to connect, which allowed Sasuke to uncoil from his lowered position like a spring. He shot upwards fist-first, and was very disappointed when Naruto vanished in a swirl of leaves and logs to get away from the blow that might have ended the fight then and there had it connected.

Sasuke quickly surveyed the surroundings, finding the blonde a moment later flashing through a series of handseals. His enhanced eyes caught and recognized them instantly, and he frowned slightly when he did. Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu. He knew that Naruto shouldn't know the technique, but he had long since given up being surprised by the strange way this battle was taking shape.

He effortlessly danced out of the path of the fireballs, easily predicting where each of them would fall. As the swarm of conflagration exploded around him he drew ever closer to the blonde with every missed assault.

"A worthy attempt, Naruto!" Sasuke taunted, bursting through a wall of fire that had erupted in front of them. "But not good enough!"

Naruto was obviously surprised that his technique had failed so thoroughly, but didn't allow it to faze him overly much as he dodged away from a hail of shuriken and explosive tags.

Soon the two were engaged in melee once more, though this time Sasuke was buoyed on by a rising confidence in his abilities. Naruto's fists moved as if in slow motion, and though he had yet to land solid blow of his own he knew he would have one soon. It was only a matter of time before Naruto slipped up, and then he would be done.

The fight continued in much the same manner, each one of the two ninja launching into the other and both realizing that the other could predict and avoid with ease. It was like watching a staged fight, except both participants were trying desperately to crush the other and coming up against the same insurmountable barrier: the Sharingan.

Time blurred into a haze of adrenaline and violence as the two exchanged blows, neither one managing to hit the other with anything more than glancing blows. They both moved with the same twisting alacrity that lent their fight an acrobatic air, interspersed by brief lulls as one of them tried get the other with ninjutsu. The training ground now bore the scars of their fierce battle, riddled as it was with various weapons, scuffed earth and charred ground from the many Fire Arts they'd performed.

And then it happened. Sasuke caught a slight imbalance in Naruto's stance that stemmed from a misplaced foot with his Sharingan eyes, and knew that he would have only a moment before the mistake was corrected. Without giving the other boy a chance to do so he pressed his advantage by launching into a renewed onslaught that pushed Naruto backwards, each step coming quicker and quicker as he fought to regain his steadily worsening balance.

Then, with a feigned punch masking his next move, Sasuke brought his other hand down to his kunai pouch and jammed a blade deep into Naruto's exposed thigh.

The blonde cried out as the strength in one of his legs suddenly gave out, causing him to stumble backwards and then fall down hard.

Sasuke was on him almost as soon as it happened, sitting himself down hard on Naruto's belly both to drive the breath from his lungs and restrain him. He freed his weapon from the blonde's thigh as he does so, holding it in a threatening manner in order to deter further resistance.

A wave of euphoria passed through him as the reality of his victory sank in. In spite of the many surprises Naruto had pulled, despite being chased by senior shinobi who thought he was Naruto and even with fatigue from the past few days still sapping his strength, he had triumphed. A smug grin spread across his face, which seemed to cause defeated Naruto to snarl furiously at him.

"Even with your stolen eyes, you're no match for a true Uchiha." Sasuke boasted, his grin turning to a derisive sneer as he did. "You shouldn't have laid your sights so high."

"Y, you really are an idiot!" Naruto said with a gasp, but he could do little from where he lay.

Sasuke flipped the kunai wondering what exactly it would take to make the idiot in front of him release his technique. From his notes Sasuke knew it would be all but impossible for him to do, though it _was_ possible. But such solutions would take _far_ too long.

Much simpler to simply threaten the lying little idiot with violence. Or actually make good on those threats. Naruto wouldn't dare keep up his charade once he started paying the price for trying to steal someone else's life.

He raised the blade high, noting with a small amount of satisfaction the way the boy below him widened his eyes in fear at the motion.

"_Naruto!_" The sound of Sakura's voice froze Sasuke's hand in place. "Don't hurt him, Naruto! _Please!_"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in confusion, turning his head to look at the pink-haired girl to ask what she was talking about.

And then his eyes caught a hint of blue in the reflection of his kunai.

Unable to stop himself, Sasuke found himself focussing on the blade, his eyes slowly widening as a sudden horror sank in.

His eyes were blue. Shockingly blue, even. _Not_ the red of the Sharingan, though the three tomoe still swirled around his pupils.

Sakura had called him Naruto. His eyes were blue. The 'imitation' in front of him had a genuine Sharingan.

The events of the last few days paraded through his mind, ever subtle discrepancy and inconsistency glaring like the sun.

He wasn't Uchiha Sasuke.

He'd been wrong all along. How many people had _known_ about this? Sakura for certain. Sasuke too. Had Kiba and the rest of the rookie nine? Was that why they had treated him so strangely? He'd thought it was because he wasn't being as acerbic as he normally was at the time, or that he was concerned for his teammate. But what if they had been aware of what he'd done to himself the whole time? What if they had simply thought that he was deluding himself, unable to understand the full breadth of his transformation?

The boy with blue eyes shook his head violently, ending that line of thought before it could go any further. There were more important things to think about.

He wasn't Uchiha Sasuke.

He was Uzumaki Naruto. And now he believed it.

* * *

_As I stare deeply into my own blue eyes I feel the laughter roll out of my body like a wave as my sleeping mind awakens from that terrible revelation. My technique crumbles in that moment, demonic chakra rolling off my body to twist my form back to what it had been. I scream in agony as my body shifts back into its previous form, forcing me to stand transfixed as every fibre of my body twists and burns itself. The sound of my voice comes out seems to falter for a moment, and then I am breathing blood as my insides contort themselves back into their old features. I have no choice but to stand transfixed, as the moment I allow myself to fall backwards I will experience a new and greater pain as my malleable body is further deformed from the fall. Red beads from on my skin as I begin to sweat blood, the corruption of the fox's chakra ruining my body even as it restructures it. It burns through me like a fire, destroying and healing at the same time. _

_Sasuke can only stare upwards in horror at my transformation while Sakura screams in sudden fear at the malevolent presence that stirs inside me. It takes only a few moments to complete, but the swiftness and violence in which it happened would be enough to make anyone pause. _

_But there is a greater pain that tears at me, and it is the re-emergence of my sleeping mind, the thing I had buried deep inside my own lie. The comforting illusion I had built for myself shatters in that moment, bringing with it terrible realization._

_It's all well and find for my mask-mind to realize the lie of its own existence, but when my sleeping mind wakens it brings with it an ache inside my skull so potent that it threatens to shatter the foundations of reality. It feels like my own mind is being ripped to shreds, a feeling that is only enhanced by my own body undergoing much of the same. For those moments, I existed in a state that was defined solely by my own suffering._

_And with it comes __days__ of memories as both my mask and sleeping mind merge, becoming one once more. All those mornings where I felt as if I had hardly slept at all were now suddenly explained, and my continuing fatigue now made sense. I was living a lie by day, and maintaining that lie by night. Hardly any sleep left to keep myself strong, or even sane._

_After what feels like an eternity my transformation is complete, and I slump forward. I manage to keep from draping myself over Sasuke at the last moment by planting a bloodied hand on the ground next to his head. _

_And then I am coughing, hacking up the blood that had been freed when my throat had been so cruelly altered. Sasuke flinches away from me as I do, squinting hard to avoid the spatter of crimson as I struggle for breath. It takes only a few violent hacks for me to eventually hack up the fluid and spit it out, but I keep gasping for air as if they would be my last. For a long time the only sound that can be heard is my own heavy breathing._

_And then I summon the strength to right myself, pushing myself away from Sasuke. My blood drips down onto him as I bring myself perpendicular to him once more, but I ignore his discomfort. He didn't have to live through what I had to shed the stuff._

_I should have realized that even attempting to replicate something as unique as the Sharingan would be impossible. The best I had been able to do was replicate most of its effects, and the effort to do that had broken my technique's control over my eyes. I know now why Sasuke had looked worried when my eyes had suddenly changed from brown to blue with three tomoe: I had been bleeding from the eyes._

_They give off a dull ache as they recover from the ordeal I had put them through not long ago: only those born with the Sharingan could ever hope to wield it safely. Everyone else suffered from every second they tried to use what was not theirs._

_I squint my eyes against the setting sun, and despite myself I feel a quiet laugh build deep inside me. It is a simple heaving of shoulders at first, as if I were sobbing, but soon it grows enough for me to give voice to it, shattering the tense silence. Sasuke turns to look up at me with disbelieving eyes, wondering what exactly it was that I found so funny about the situation._

_He thinks that just because I would rather laugh at the situation than cry that something is wrong with me. As if I should attribute no more importance to my failure here than in any of others._

_I suppose that is one of the reasons why I could never be him, and why my lie failed. Well, that and many others._

_I wanted too much out of my new life. I wanted Sakura, I wanted respect, I wanted power. These were things Uchiha Sasuke did not want, because he had never lacked for them. I was a pale imitation of the original._

_And now my laugh turns genuine as I flip the kunai around in my hand._

_Even as a lie I was able to beat Sasuke with his precious eyes, with his private tutelage, with his other advantages. I had done so three times. First, in my apartment. And again later that night. And lastly, just now. I was faster, stronger and __better__ than he was. And he knew it. It didn't matter what form I took: I could still beat the life from his body if the desire ever took me._

_I can take solace in that much, at least._

_My blue eyes harden, and my laughter dries up. A twisted grin appears on my lips as I slash my kunai downwards, pinning the Uchiha to the ground through his shoulder in one swift moment. He cries out in agony, but I ignore him._

"_Who would have thought it?" I say over his pained shout, looking down at the boy I had been imitating for days. "I'm better at being Sasuke Uchiha than you are."_

"_Naruto-" Sakura begins, fear in her voice. _

"_No!" I roar, turning to glare balefully at the pink-haired girl. "That mask is __gone__! I buried him!" _

_She takes a faltering step backwards at my fierce reprisal, and now the concern in her is replaced with terror. I must look quite frightening, with my blood-smeared face and mottled skin still regenerating from my broken technique. The demonic taint of the beast inside me burned away at me as my body rejected it, but it was the only source of power potent enough for my technique. My perfected art, the projection of everything I represented: being something I am not._

_Demonic Art: Face Stealing Transformation. The only technique that was wholly my own, something that nobody could ever replicate. With it I __became__ my target, altering not only my flesh to match them but also my mind. I buried myself within my belief, and in that moment I became them. Because it is part of my nindo to never stop believing in myself, even if the me I believe in is a lie._

_It would have required intense study of my target if I had not already known him so well. Yes, how could I not know him? We are much the same, the two of us. We are both alone, we both have (or had, rather) great dreams, and above all else we are both deeply scarred. There is a crippling pain inside both of us._

_But while __his__ pain made him aloof and dismissive, mine drove me to others for solace and comfort._

_I suppose our pain simply wasn't similar enough for me to replicate his._

_But now people knew about the technique. They would know what to look for, how I could be found. Thank you, Uchiha Sasuke, for taking away even __that__ from me._

_Then again, how much had my old mask broken through to influence my actions? How much had __he__ spoken, masquerading as a piece of my new mask? It was impossible to say, one way or the other. Everything I'd done at the time had seemed like the only thing I __could__ do. _

"_You didn't have to." The girl says cautiously, as if afraid I would I would attack her next. _

_Silly girl. She __knew__ how I felt about her. I had risked my life to bring back Sasuke for her. And then, when she discovered what I had been doing to myself she had tried, perhaps not quite understanding what it was she was asking, to bring me back._

"_Yes I did." I spit the words out with snarl. _

_She had to know by now about the way the villager's treated me. She had been there the day I had been outright called a demon._

_And now everyone knew about my technique. Nobody would ever trust me enough to allow me to study them close enough to become them, not like I had already studied Sasuke. What else could I do with my technique, then? It seemed I had wasted the time Tsunade had granted me for no purpose._

_There was no other face for me to take as my own. _

"_No you didn't!" She protested, stronger than before. "We want you back, Naruto! Not someone else!"_

_But wait..._

_Yes, there was another face I knew almost as well as my own. I was so familiar with it that I saw it in my dreams, taunting me with its hatred._

_With nerveless fingers I reached down to my waist and find the fox that I had bought two days ago. Maybe some part of my sleeping mind had foreseen all of this, and had unconsciously been willing me to prepare for it as best it could. Was it possible? Could I have prepared a new mask even while I was wearing one? It seemed impossible, but I was not prepared to discard the thought. After all, why had I been so attached to it? The mask wasn't particularly __good__. It just... felt right._

_I froze at that thought, and then I nod almost imperceptibly. I would have a new mask, and this time it would be one people __want__ to believe in. Most already did._

"_But I don't __want__ to be me, Sakura." I said numbly as I looked at the fox mask in my hands. "Don't you understand? I'm tired of all the hatred, all the neglect. If I cannot earn their respect, I will instead __demand__ it!"_

_My body __writhes__ as the demonic chakra seethes inside me, warping and distorting my shape unnaturally. With the slow inexorable deliberation I turned the mask over once again, grimly deciding what I would need to do next._

"_Do you know what the worst part of all this was? Everyone was happier when they thought I was gone. Even me." I told her, and much of the force of my voice was gone. Some of the sadness I thought I'd buried with my old mask returned, and I could not be bothered to push it any further down. Soon I would discard it entirely. Better that I savour it while I can._

_The malevolent presence inside me pulses with anticipation of what I was about to do. I cannot help but smile behind my new mask. Even __it__ does not fully understand what I will be doing here. It thinks it will be __free__. But why would I help something that was the cause of so much pain?_

"_Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asks, sensing the resurgence of evil inside me. Her concern falls on deaf ears, as I am long since done listening to her._

_No. What I will do is so much worse than that. I will steal from it everything, and make them mine. I will be better than even __it__._

"_I want to become __someone __else." I say with slow deliberation, summoning my resolve._

_I drew heavily on the demon inside me, using its power to transfigure myself into a new creature._

_Still smiling, I turn the mask around and bring it upwards to my face._

_My new mask would be perfect.  
_

* * *

**AN: **Well! That's that! Hope you enjoyed it!

I wrote this story out of an errant musing I had: Why do authors insist on writing OOC fics? I mean, it's easy to spot. (I freely admit that I am often guilty of this.) Examples, you ask? Sasuke not being a jerk. (Jerk, I say, _not_ evil. They are not the same.) Danzo being stupid-evil instead of militaristically patriotic. (One need not be _nice_ to love one's country.) Hinata having inexplicably found a miraculous source of spine. ('Nuff said.) That sort of thing. And then I remembered the early manga chapters, where Naruto was said to wear a mask of happiness. Which then led to a dark place where I wondered if I could get away with playing with a reader's willingness to go along, and then pimp-slap them with a plot-twist built on just that. If you feel my phantom fist of fury across your face, then I'll consider this story a win. *crosses fingers*

I even managed to make it relatively easy to spot upon retrospect. Don't believe me? Nobody ever refers to the third person narration protagonist by name. Said protagonist also knows things he shouldn't, and has an uncanny 'intuition' as to where Naruto hides things. His narration also contains discrepancies. (A lesser mortal would simply try to fix their mistakes. I find ways to make mine awesome, then deliberately make some more.) Some Naruto-ish echoes with 'Sasuke' as well. Lastly, 'Sasuke' is acting _way_ out of character with Sakura.

Of course, _Naruto_ is also acting kinda OOC...

Am I still screwing with you?

(No, I'm not. I invoke the Rule of Cool/Artistic Licence to get around that, though. Go me!)

Stories like this one make me sad that I can't draw for shit, because if I could I'd turn this thing into a doujinshi and _sell that sumbitch_! Alas, this was not to be.

I'll be honest, though: I absolutely _hate_ writing fight scenes. I much prefer a visual medium rather than a written one for them, even when I'm reading other people's stuff. Alas, this preference shows a lot in this story. Please do not point and laugh at those scenes.

Now review! **SYROC COMMANDS IT! **Because I like it when my email account explodes and startles the shit out of me for days.


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